[Editor's note: Having overlooked this article at the time of its publication, I am pleased to share it with those who follow my blog. Philosophers, especially, value criticism--and Media Matters has done its best to discredit me here. The original included only 6 minutes of my interview with Roger Stone, so I have included it in its entirety here.]

Donald Trump ally Roger Stone last month appeared on James Fetzer’s internet radio show and said there’s “nobody in the researcher community that I respect more.” Fetzer is a fringe conspiracy theorist who has claimed that the Holocaust, Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and 9/11 attacks were faked. During the interview, Stone said he plans to ask for a 9/11 “reading list” from Fetzer to “get myself educated” -- as soon as he’s done with the manuscript of his book alleging the Clintons murdered John F. Kennedy Jr.

Roger Stone On James Fetzer: “Nobody In The Researcher Community That I Respect More”

Roger Stone Is A Longtime Trump Friend And Adviser Who Now Heads A Pro-Trump Super PAC. Stone worked as a top political aide to Donald Trump's presidential campaign before exiting in August. Stone is a notorious "dirty trickster" who formed the anti-Hillary Clinton group C.U.N.T. in 2008 and has spent much of the 2016 cycle pushing smears about the Clintons. He has a history of lobbing racist and sexist attacks against media figures, and was recently banned by CNN and MSNBC. He currently heads the pro-Trump super PAC Committee to Restore America's Greatness and is a frequent Trump supporter in the media. Stone has been under heavy criticism recently because of his stated plan to "disclose the hotels and the room numbers of those delegates who are directly involved in" allegedly stealing the nomination from Trump at the Republican convention. [Media Matters, 10/14/15, 2/22/16, 4/5/16; 4/6/16]

Stone To Fetzer: “There’s Really Nobody In The Researcher Community That I Respect More Than You.” While Stone was appearing as a guest on Fetzer’s internet program The Real Deal, Fetzer described an episode of his program he had done about “who was responsible for 9/11 and why” and offered to give Stone some “leads” into the “death of JFK Jr., which unquestionably was an assassination.” Stone responded, “That’s great to know, Jim. As you know, there’s really nobody in the researcher community that I respect more than you.”

Stone Dedicated His Book The Clintons' War On Women To Victor Thorn, Who Wrote The Holocaust Hoax Exposed And Blames A "Jewish Plot" For The 9/11 Attacks. [Media Matters, 11/13/15]

Stone Is A Regular Guest On The Radio Program Of Alex Jones, Who Has Pushed Conspiracy Theories About 9/11,Sandy Hook, And Other Tragedies. [Media Matters, 2/10/16]

Fetzer Believes “The Holocaust Story Appears To Be False And Cannot Be Sustained”

Fetzer: “The Holocaust Story Appears To Be False And Cannot Be Sustained.” Fetzer wrote an article for the anti-Semitic Veterans Today purportedly proving that the “Holocaust story” was “falsified”:

Counting deaths attributed to the Holocaust—apart from the records of the International Committee of the Red Cross—turns out to be an exercise in “fuzzy math”, because none of them add up. As Faurisson observed during an interview on 13 December 2006, the Yad Vashem database was built up by “simple unverified declarations emanating from unverified sources and processed in such a way that one and the same person can be recorded as having died several times, even, it seems, as many as ten times”.[1] And even the most complete archives are not collated to make total numbers accessible but only individual cases—which appears an obvious measure to preserve the untestability of (h1), the hypothesis that 6,000,000 Jews had perished.

Holocaust story falsified

So, insofar as we depend upon empirical evidence and laws of science, the Holocaust story appears to be false and cannot be sustained. [Veterans Today, 5/1/15; Southern Poverty Law Center, 1/6/11]

Fetzer Wrote That His "Research On The Holocaust Narrative Suggests That It Is Not Only Untrue But Provably False And Not Remotely Scientifically Sustainable." The Star Tribune wrote of Fetzer:

But on his website, Fetzer says, "my research on the Holocaust narrative suggests that it is not only untrue but provably false and not remotely scientifically sustainable."

Fetzer denies he is an anti-Semite. He suggested I describe his skepticism of the Holocaust like this (his words): "Fetzer argues that, if the inmates had been gassed using Zyklon B, then their bodies would have turned pink and the walls of the gas chambers would have turned blue. But we have no reports of pink bodies and the only walls that are blue are those used for delousing, which means the official narrative cannot possibly be correct." [Star Tribune, 1/21/15]

Fetzer Promotes “Anti-Semitic 9/11 Conspiracy Theories”

Fetzer Founded “Scholars For 9/11 Truth.” Fetzer wrote an article on the group’s page explaining why “the government's account” about the September 11, 2001, attacks, “cannot possibly be correct.” The reasons include the “impact of planes cannot have caused enough damage to bring the buildings down,” and “WTC-7 came down in a classic controlled demolition.” [Scholars for 9/11 Truth, 2007]

In “Scholar Backs Far­rakhan on 9/11 (March 23), the “scholar” the NOI pro­motes is James Fet­zer, one of the co-founders of Schol­ars for 9/11 Truth, an orga­ni­za­tion that is com­posed of aca­d­e­mics and oth­ers who believe that the U.S. gov­ern­ment played a role in the 9/11 attacks. Fet­zer is also a colum­nist for the anti-Semitic web­site Vet­er­ans Today and has writ­ten articles in which he pro­motes anti-Semitic 9/11 con­spir­acy theories.

Fet­zer made the fol­low­ing state­ments in his inter­view with the NOI:

·“The plan appears to have orig­i­nated in the fer­tile mind of Ben­jamin Netanyahu, who wanted to devise a plan to draw the United States into a war with the Arab nations that served as a counter-balance to Israel’s dom­i­na­tion of the Mid­dle East.”

·“9/11 was brought to us com­pli­ments of the CIA, the Neo-Cons in the Depart­ment of Defense and the Mossad.”

·“We present proof of Israeli and Zion­ist involve­ment from the secu­rity at the air­ports to the World Trade Center…and many oth­ers involved in set­ting the 9/11 stage and car­ry­ing it out.” [Anti-Defamation League, 3/31/16]

Fetzer To Stone: “The Whole Thing Was Fake About The Planes. … None Of Those Planes Crashed On 9/11.”

FETZER: I founded Scholars for 9/11 Truth. I’m about to publish a new book on it. 9/11 was brought to us by the CIA, the neocons in the Department of Defense, most of whom had come from the Project for A New American Century and were dual U.S.-Israeli citizens and the Mossad. Now it’s true that 15 of the 19 purported hijackers were Saudi Arabian. None were from Iraq. But they were all fake. The whole thing was fake about the planes, Roger. None of those planes crashed on 9/11. It’s a complicated case. [...]The key thing is a half a dozen of these suicide hijackers turned up alive and well the following day and were interviewed by the British media. [Media Broadcasting Center, The Real Deal, 3/11/16]

Stone Told Fetzer He Was Writing A Book Accusing The Clintons Of Murdering JFK Jr. After Fetzer pushed his conspiracy theory about the 9/11 planes being “fake,” Stone said he’s been occupied writing books about Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and the alleged murder of John F. Kennedy Jr. by the Clintons. Stone stated he has a book coming out next year in "which I make the case that John F. Kennedy Jr. was murdered. And he was murdered by the Clintons because he was in the way. Now I have extraordinary new evidence that nobody else has seen.“ [Media Broadcasting Center, The Real Deal, 3/11/16]

Stone Said He Would Get “A Reading List On 9/11” From Fetzer After Stone Finishes Writing His JFK Jr. Book. After stating that he was busy writing a book about JFK Jr., Stone promised Fetzer: “As soon as I finish that manuscript, I’m going to go to you and get a reading list on 9/11, and I’m going to get myself educated.” [Media Broadcasting Center, The Real Deal, 3/11/16]

Fetzer Believes The Sandy Hook Shooting Was Faked

Fetzer Edited The Book Nobody Died At Sandy Hook. In the book Nobody Died At Sandy Hook, Fetzer concludes that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, was faked by “officials at every level” to push gun control on the country (emphasis in original):

Because of this, much of the nation seems to believe that gun violence, particularly school shootings, is on the rise even with evidence that points to the contrary.

The reasons behind this aggressive behavior by the administration, even when gun violence has been falling in the United States, involves deep questions about the role of DHS in our society and why America has been devolving into a totalitarian state. I was born a year-and-a-day before Pearl Harbor, as my father used to put it; and I would never have imagined in my wildest dreams that the United States of American could descent into a bottomless pit of lies, deceit and deception

Faking a school shooting to instill fear into a population for political purposes is an act of terrorism, where it has become clear that this instance was brought to us by officials at every level of Connecticut government from the teachers and reporters to the State Police and the Newtown School board to the Governor and the Attorney General and the President himself. And this is the ugly legacy of Barack Hussein Obama. [Rense.com, accessed 4/11/16]

Cover Of Fetzer's Sandy Hook Book: "It Wasn't A School Massacre. It Was A FEMA Drill."

Fetzer: “There Was No Mass Evacuation” At Sandy Hook “Because No Students Were There.” Fetzer wrote in a 2015 article about the mass shooting at Newtown:

You all know (and apparently buy into) the official account that Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 kids and 6 adults, which has been widely broadcast by the mass media. But working together with three other professors and a host of other independent students, we have established (1) that the school was closed by 2008, (2) that there was no mass evacuation (because no students were there); (3) that the “iconic” Shannon Hicks’ photograph was staged in advance; and (4) that the “official account” does not create a causal nexus that ties the alleged shooter to his purported victims and the weapons he is said to have used. [Veterans Today, 5/1/15]

Fetzer: Sandy Hook “Was A Drill And No Children Died.” Fetzer wrote in a 2015 article headlined, “Sandy Hook Hoax: How we know it didn’t happen”:

The absence of evidence that should be present and the presence of evidence that should be absent are keys to unraveling Sandy Hook. And the suppression of the new documentary, “We need to talk about Sandy Hook”, appears to be backfiring. Proof of fraud and fakery continues to mount, substantiating it was a drill and no children died. [Veterans Today, 5/1/15]

Jim Fetzer, a former Marine Corps officer, is McKnight Professor Emeritus on the Duluth Campus of the University of Minnesota.

This article is a warning - in November 2016, a vast system of agitation and propaganda was set up in order to destroy the reputation and the authority of President Donald Trump as soon as he arrived in the White House. It is the first time that such a campaign has been scientifically organised against a President of the United States, and with such resources. Yes, we are indeed entering a post-Truth age, but the distribution of rôles is not what you may think it is.

The campaign waged against the new President of the United States by the sponsors of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and the destruction of the Greater Middle East is on-going. After the Womens’ March on 22 January, a March for Science is scheduled to be held not only in the USA, but also throughout the Western world on 22 April. It’s goal is to show that Donald Trump is not only a misogynist, but also an obscurantist.

The fact that he is the ex-organiser of the Miss Universe pageant, and that his third wedding was to a model, is apparently enough to prove that he holds women in contempt. The fact that the President contests the rôle played by Barack Obama in the creation of the Chicago Climate Exchange (a long time before his Presidency) and rejects the idea that climatic disturbances are caused by the expulsion of carbon into the atmosphere attest to the fact that he understands nothing about science.

In order to convince US public opinion of the President’s insanity – a man who says that he hopes for peace with his enemies, and wants to collaborate with them in universal economic prosperity - one of the greatest specialists of agit-prop (agitation & propaganda), David Brock, set up an impressive system even before Trump’s investiture.

At the time when he was working for the Republicans, Brock launched a campaign against President Bill Clinton which would eventually become TrooperGate, the Whitewater affair, and the Lewinsky affair. Having changed his colors, he is today in the service of Hillary Clinton, for whom he has already organized not only the demolition of Mitt Romney’s candidacy but also her riposte in the affair of the assassination of the US ambassador in Benghazi. During the first round of primaries, it was Brock who directed the attacks against Bernie Sanders. The National Review qualified Brock as «a right-wing assassin who has become a left-wing assassin».

It is important to remember that the two procedures of destitution of a serving President initiated since the Second World War were set in motion for the benefit of the deep state, and not at all for the benefit of democracy. So Watergate was entirely managed by a certain «Deep Throat» who, 33 years later, was revealed to be Mark Felt, the assistant of J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI. As for the Lewinsky affair, it was simply a way of forcing Bill Clinton to accept the war against Yugoslavia.

The current campaign is organised in secret by four associations:

Media Matters is tasked with picking up on Donald Trump’s mistakes. You read his bulletin every day in your newspapers – the President can’t be trusted, he got this or that point wrong.

American Bridge 21st Century has collected more than 2,000 hours of videos showing Donald Trump over the years, and more than 18,000 hours of other videos of the members of his cabinet. It has at its disposition sophisticated technological equipment designed for the Department of Defense – allegedly not in working order – which enables it to look for contradictions between their older declarations and their current positions. It should be extending its work to 1,200 of the new President’s collaborators.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington — CREW is a firm of high level lawyers tasked with tracking anything that could create a scandal in the Trump administration. Most of the lawyers in this association work pro bono, for the cause. These are the people who prepared the case for Bob Ferguson, the Chief Prosecutor of the state of Washington, against the immigration decree (Executive Order 13769).

Shareblue is an electronic army which has already connected with 162 million internauts in the USA. It’s job is to spread pre-ordained themes, for example:

• Trump is authoritarian and a thief.

• Trump is under the influence of Vladimir Putin.

• Trump is a weak and quick-tempered personality, he’s a manic-depressive.

• Trump was not elected by the majority of US citizens, and is therefore illegitimate.

• His Vice-President, Mike Pence, is a fascist.

• Trump is a billionaire who will constantly be faced with conflicts of interest between his personal affairs and those of state.

• Trump is a puppet of the Koch brothers, who are famous for sponsoring the extreme right.

• Trump is a white supremacist and a threat to minorities.

• Anti-Trump opposition just keeps growing outside Washington.

• To save democracy, let’s support the democrataic parliamentarians who are attacking Trump, and let’s demolish those who are co-operating with him.

• Overthrowing Trump will take time, so don’t let’s weaken in our resolve.

This association will produce the newsletters and 30-second videos. It will base itself on two other groups – a company which makes documentary videos, The American Independent, and a statistical unit, Benchmark Politics.

The whole of this system – which was set up during the transitional period, that is to say before Donald Trump’s arrival at the White House – already employed more than 300 specialists to which should be added numerous volunteer workers. Its annual budget, initially calculated at 35 million dollars, was increased to the level of about 100 million dollars.

Destroying the image – and thus the authority – of the President of the United States, before he has had the time to do anything at all, can have serious consequences. By eliminating Saddam Hussein and Mouamar Kadhafi, the CIA plunged their two countries into a long period of chaos, and the «land of Liberty» itself may suffer severe damage from such an operation. This type of mass manipulation technique has never before been levelled at a head of state in the Western world.

For the moment, the plan is working – no political leader in the world has dared to celebrate the election of Donald Trump, with the exception of Vladimir Putin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Through an examination of three films, "Newtown" (2016), "Patriots Day" (2016), and "Zero Dark Thirty" (2012), proof is presented that Hollywood has been promoting propaganda, in the first case, about Sandy Hook; in the second, about the Boston bombing; and in the third, about the raid on the compound in Pakistan during which Osama bin Laden died for the second time. Because the evidence visual, the best presentations are through their visual presentation. Here's the proof about all three:

“Pizzagate” is the term given to speculations and assertions that there is a pedophile network connecting Democratic Party élites and two Washington, D.C. pizzerias, Besta Pizza and Comet Ping Pong. The latter is a pizzeria with a Disneyish façade owned by a homosexual named James Alefantis, who is a former boyfriend of David Brock, a powerful Democratic Party operative and Clinton loyalist.

The word “pizza” in Pizzagate isn’t just a reference to Comet Ping Pong pizzeria but stems from the many cryptic references to “pizza” and other food items (“hotdogs”; “pasta”; “tempting” “cheeses”; “yummy” “sauces”) in a collection of curious emails sent by and to John Podesta, a longtime Democratic Party operative who was Bill Clinton’s White House chief of staff, Obama’s White House counselor and, most recently, chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. This is the same John Podesta whose emails, published by WikiLeaks, reveal his and his brother Tony’s enthrallment with a cannibalism painting and their involvement with satanic performance-artist Marina Abramovic’s “spirit cooking” bodily-fluids dinners.

Three weeks ago, in a wholly unverified and unverifiable interview with the administrator of a website called Victurus Libertas, the alleged “FBI insider” who first broached the subject of Pizzagate on the chat forum 4chan last July, predicted the imminent (“next week”) “high level” arrests of “3 dozen pedophile politicians, some who are quite well known.” The unnamed “FBI insider” even gave the initials of some of the big-name D.C. politicians who are “being investigated” — BF (Barney Frank?), MB (Michael Bloomberg?), TK (Tim Kaine?), DF (Diane Feinstein?), JM (John McCain?), LG (Lindsey Graham?). Along with the politicians, the “insider” said “journalists, pundits, money men, lobbyists” would also be arrested in the impending FBI dragnet, and that “Many are being tracked down and are about to be exposed, arrested, drained. Some may off themselves when they realize they risk prison, ruination, loss of power, etc.”

The “next week” went by, then another week, and another week, but there was no FBI arrests of D.C. pedophiles.

By the way, it is interesting that a year before he died of a “heart attack,” in addition to calling John Podesta a “world class underage sex slave op cover-upper,” the late Andrew Breitbart had also tweeted that the liberal MSM protect, aid and abet pedophile sex trafficking.

(1) President Trump announces a crackdown on sex trafficking

Four days ago, on February 21, President Trump had a meeting with human trafficking experts, after which he said in a short, dramatic press conference that the issue of sex trafficking has been on the radar of the federal government “for some time,” but that since he took office, the investigation has become “much more focused”. Trump vowed that he will direct the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to devote more resources and personnel so as to bring the “full force and weight of our government” to put an end to the “horrific, really horrific crimes taking place.”

Recall that three weeks ago, the new Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security released a very curious PSA on human trafficking which prominently featured a pizzeria.

What you may not know is that Trump has long inveighed against pedophilia. In a tweet on October 8, 2012, Donald Trump said something must be done about the sex trafficking of “missing children” and that pedophiles should be put to death after a “fast trial”.

Below is a transcript of Trump’s announcement, followed by a video of his press conference (h/t YourNewsWire.com):

“I want to make it clear today that my administration will focus on ending the absolutely horrific practice of human trafficking and I am prepared to bring the full force and weight of our government at the federal level in order to solve this horrific problem that is getting worse.

Human trafficking is a dire problem, both domestically and internationally, and is one that’s made really a challenge. And it’s really made possible to a large extent, more of a modern phenomenon, by what’s taking place on the Internet, as you probably know.

Solving the human trafficking epidemic, which is what it is, is a priority for my administration. We’re going to help out a lot. ‘Solve’ is a wonderful word, a beautiful word, but I can tell you, we’re going to help a lot.”

Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney certainly understood President Trump’s words as a crackdown on Pizzagate. She wrote in a tweet on February 23, 2017:

“Forewarning: this brings down Dems and Repubs! He needs to go straight all the way because this goes to the top!”

(2) The Rothchilds throw John Podesta to the wolves

Lynn Forester de Rothschild, 62, is the CEO of E.L. Rothschild, a holding company she owns with her third husband, Sir Evelyn Robert de Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild family. The company manages investments in The Economist Group, owner of The Economist magazine, Congressional Quarterly and the Economist Intelligence Unit; E.L. Rothschild LP, a leading independent wealth management firm in the United States; as well as real estate, agricultural and food interests.

As Claire Bernish reports for the Australian National Review, Rothschild has a close association with Hillary Clinton, as shown in emails released by WikiLeaks:

In an email exchange in April 2010 with the subject heading “Miss you”, Rothschild tells Hillary she “would love to catch up” and that “I remain your loyal adoring pal.” Hillary responds in kind, “let’s make that happen,” and signs off, “Much love, H.”

In September 2010, Hillary messaged Rothschild, “I was trying to reach you to tell you and Teddy that I asked Tony Blair to go to Israel as part of our full court press on keeping the Middle East negotiations going.” Hillary then asks obsequiously, “Let me know what penance I owe you.” Rothschild thanks Hillary for “personally reaching out to us,” and saccharinely writes, “You are the best, and we remain your biggest fans. Sweet dreams and Godspeed with everything you are doing.”

In their relationship, Hillary Clinton is the subordinate who takes orders from the Rothschildsas shown in a January 7, 2015 email from Lynn de Rothschild to Hillary’s aide, Cheryl Mills. Referring to a blog by Senator Elizabeth Warren’s (D-) which was critical of Hillary’s close association with Wall Street and big banks, Rothschild writes: “I think this blog overstates what Warren was doing, but we need to craft the economic message for Hillary so that Warren’s common inaccurate conclusions are addressed. Xoxo Lynn.”

On the evening of February 21, 2017, the same day of President Trump’s announcement of a crackdown on sex trafficking, in a telling tweet, Lynn de Rothschild calls John Podesta “pathetic,” “arrogant,” “a loser,” and blames him for Hillary losing the election to Trump.

Are the above recent events signs that the Trump administration will take decisive action on Pizzagate?

We can only hope — and pray — that the powerful D.C. users and abusers of innocent children be brought to justice.

This cause is before the Court on Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint [DE 97]. The Motion has been fully briefed. For the reasons set forth below, the Motion is denied.

I. BACKGROUND

This is a case about the First Amendment right to free speech. The setting for this case is a college campus, which is certainly a familiar setting for First Amendment jurisprudence. The story of this case is a story of two competing narratives, both of which are present in the Second Amended Complaint before this Court. The first such narrative, brought by Plaintiff, is that he, a professor, was terminated for exercising his right to free speech in a personal, off-campus blog. The second narrative belongs to Defendants and, according to them, Plaintiff was terminated for consistently and willfully refusing to comply with internal administrative requirements regarding the reporting of outside activities. The crux of this case is that Plaintiff contends that the Defendants’ justification for termination was a pretext—an attempt to manufacture a reason to terminate Plaintiff due to Plaintiff’s controversial exercise of free speech in the area of mass shootings and related conspiracies on his personal blog.

In a prior complaint, the precise contours of Plaintiff’s allegations of pretext were not clear. After the Court held a hearing and heard argument on a motion to dismiss, the Court dismissed Plaintiff’s former complaint on multiple grounds. The primary focus of the Court’s decision was that Plaintiff needed to amend his complaint to provide greater clarity as to: (i) what specific constitutional violation he was alleged to have suffered, (ii) whom he was suing, and (iii) the precise legal basis for each of Plaintiff’s claims for relief. Plaintiff responded to the Court’s order by filing the Second Amended Complaint and, soon after, Defendants filed the Motion to Dismiss before this Court.Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint contains the following counts:

 Count I – Retaliation in Violation of Right to Free Speech, against Defendant FAU and Defendants Kelly, Alperin, and Coltman.1

1 Defendants Kelly, Alperin, and Coltman are officials at Florida Atlantic University.2 Defendants Zoeller and Moats are representatives of Plaintiff’s former union. Defendants UFF (the United Faculty of Florida) and FEA (the Florida Education Association) are the unions Defendants Zoeller and Moats represent.

2

II. LEGAL STANDARD APPLICABLE TO A MOTION TO DISMISS

To adequately plead a claim for relief, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Under Rule 12(b)(6), a motion to dismiss should be granted only if the plaintiff is unable to articulate “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). “A claim has facial plausibility when the pleaded factual content allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 663 (2009) (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556). When determining whether a claim has facial plausibility, “a court must view a complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and accept all of the plaintiff’s well-pleaded facts as true.” Am. United Life Ins. Co. v. Martinez, 480 F.3d 1043, 1066 (11th Cir. 2007).However, the court need not take allegations as true if they are merely “threadbare recitals of a cause of action’s elements, supported by mere conclusory statements.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 663. “Mere labels and conclusions or a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do, and a plaintiff cannot rely on naked assertions devoid of further factual enhancement.” Franklin v. Curry, 738 F.3d 1246, 1251 (11th Cir. 2013). “[I]f allegations are indeed more conclusory than factual, then the court does not have to assume their truth.” Chaparro v. Carnival Corp., 693 F.3d 1333, 1337 (11th Cir. 2012).

III. ANALYSIS

Defendants argue that Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint should be dismissed for the following reasons: (1) the Second Amended Complaint fails to allege sufficient facts regarding Plaintiff’s claim that Defendant Kelly (an FAU official) retaliated against Plaintiff due to Plaintiff’s exercise of his constitutional rights, (2) the Second Amended Complaint fails to allege sufficient facts regarding Plaintiff’s claims that there was a conspiracy to deprive him of his constitutional rights, (3) Plaintiff has not pled that he was denied an underlying constitutional right, (4) Plaintiff’s allegations of conspiracy are insufficient under the intracorporate conspiracy doctrine, (5) Count III is duplicative of Count IV, and (6) Count IV is “not ripe” because Plaintiff failed to exhaust his administrative remedies. Each argument is addressed in turn.1. The Second Amended Complaint’s Allegations Against Defendant Kelly (Count I)Defendants argue that Plaintiff has failed to allege sufficient facts regarding Plaintiff’s claim that Defendant Kelly retaliated against Plaintiff in response to Plaintiff’s exercise of his First Amendment right to free speech (Plaintiff’s blog postings on mass shootings and related conspiracies). In the Court’s prior order dismissing Plaintiff’s complaint, the Court stated: “Plaintiff must clearly allege the basis for his retaliation claim.” DE 92 at 14. The basis for the Court’s conclusion was that it was unclear whether Plaintiff’s retaliation claim was premised on Plaintiff’s blog postings or on some other basis. Plaintiff responded to the Court’s prior order by significantly amending and clarifying his retaliation claim, yet Defendants still challenge the sufficiency of Plaintiff’s claim under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The Court sets forth below the allegations Plaintiff has made against Defendant Kelly:

Defendant Kelly serves “at the pleasure of” the Defendant University’s Board of Trustees and is held “responsible for the University’s operation and management, performance, its fiscal accountability, and its compliance with federal and state laws, rules and regulations.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 12.Paragraph 13 of the Second Amended Complaint sets forth Defendant Kelly’s express responsibilities and duties at the Defendant University, including: “To be responsible for the organization, operation, and administration of the University . . . .”; “To execute all documents on behalf of the University and the BOT consistent with law . . . .”; “To serve as the principal liaison officer and official contact between the BOT and the faculty, staff and students of the university.”; “To establish and implement policies and procedures to recruit, appoint, transfer, promote, compensate, evaluate, reward, demote, discipline, and remove personnel . . . .”; and “To ensure [FAU’s] compliance with federal and state laws, rules, regulations, and other requirements which are applicable to the University.”See Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 13. (emphasis added).Defendant Kelly is “President and Chief Executive Officer of Florida Atlantic University, designated by the Defendant University’s Board of Trustees. Defendant Kelly supervised, facilitated, recommended and/or approved discipline and termination of Professor Tracy in retaliation . . . for engaging in his constitutionally protected speech and expression on his personal blog.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 14.“In November and December 2015, Defendants Alperin, Coltman, and other senior FAU officials and representatives, including FAU General Counsel Larry Glick . . . planned to discipline Professor Tracy in retaliation for his personal blogging . . . under the supervision and with the approval of Defendant Kelly . . . .” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 91.Plaintiff’s “constitutionally protected speech, including his uncompensated opinions and viewpoints expressed on his personal blog, played a substantial part and was a motivating factor” in the decision of Defendant Kelly to terminate Plaintiff. Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 120.

Plaintiff’s “constitutionally protected speech played a substantial part and was a motivating factor” in the decision of Defendant Kelly to terminate Plaintiff. Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 126.Defendant Kelly “acted unconstitutionally and unlawfully in disciplining and terminating Professor Tracy in order to restrict his, and other similarly situated faculty member’s expression and freedom of speech.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 127.Defendant Kelly “had no legitimate government interest in disciplining or terminating Professor Tracy for his constitutionally protected personal blogging and online speech and expression.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 128.The retaliatory actions of Defendant Kelly “in response to Professor Tracy’s constitutionally protected speech, have had a chilling effect that acts as a deterrent to free speech.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 130.Defendant Kelly “acted intentionally, knowingly, willfully, wantonly, and in reckless disregard of Professor Tracy’s federally-protected constitutional rights and violated clearly established constitutional rights of which all reasonable college administrators and staff should have known . . . .” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 131.Defendant Kelly “and other officials and representatives at the Defendant University who aided and abetted the unlawful discipline and termination of Professor Tracy acted intentionally, knowingly, willfully, wantonly, and in reckless disregard of Professor Tracy’s federally-protected constitutional rights, and without regard to the significant emotional and reputational damage such actions would cause.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 132.The Court concludes that the Plaintiff has not pled mere “labels and conclusions or a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action.” Viewing all inferences in Plaintiff’s favor, as the Court must at this state of the proceedings, the inference from the allegations in the Second Amended Complaint is that Defendant Kelly was personally (and not vicariously) involved in a retaliatory violation of Plaintiff’s First Amendment rights. As a result, Defendant Kelly is sufficiently on notice of the claim against him such that he is able to answer that claim. For this reason, Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss is denied as to Count I.

Just as with Count I, Defendants argue that Plaintiff has failed to allege sufficient facts regarding the Union Defendants (Zoeller and Moats) and the FAU Defendants (Alperin, Coltman, and Kelly) in connection with Plaintiff’s conspiracy count, Count II. In the Court’s prior order dismissing Plaintiff’s complaint, the Court required Plaintiff to amend his complaint to “plead his conspiracy counts with greater clarity as to who, what, where, when, and why.” DE 92 at 18. The Court again notes that it must view all allegations in the Second Amended Complaint in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, and it is in this light the Court sets forth below Plaintiff’s relevant allegations:“In January 2013, Defendants Coltman, Alperin, and other senior FAU officials and representatives, including FAU General Counsel Larry Glick, “began planning how to use the public controversy surrounding Professor Tracy’s blog to not only discipline Professor Tracy for his blogging, but also to undermine FAU faculty union membership and representation.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 50 See also Exhibit “AK”.Defendant Coltman, Defendant Alperin and other senior officials and representatives of the Defendant University, including former FAU President Mary Jane Saunders and FAU General Counsel Glick began a coordinated effort to monitor Plaintiff’s blog, and “find winning metaphors” to overcome the First Amendment in “ethically” disciplining Plaintiff for his personal blogging. Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 49, 53 See Exhibit “AK”.Defendants Coltman, Alperin, FAU General Counsel Glick and other senior FAU officials and representatives, were directed not to communicate by e- mail, which could be discovered through public records requests. They also agreed to monitor and evaluate the personal blogging of Professor Tracy (“JT”), and to “centrally handle” the controversy surrounding the blog. Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 53.“In November and December 2015, Defendants Alperin, Coltman, and other senior FAU officials and representatives, including FAU General Counsel Larry Glick, once again planned to discipline Professor Tracy in retaliation for his personal blogging, this time under the supervision and with the approval of Defendant Kelly. Upon information and belief, in furtherance of their unlawful objectives, FAU’s General Counsel Glick met with Defendant Zoeller and reached an understanding and agreement that Defendants UFF and FEA would not contest the discipline and termination of Professor Tracy.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 91.

“In furtherance of the conspiracy, Defendants Alperin, Coltman and FAU General Counsel Glick internally labeled Professor Tracy the “poster child” to “quit UFF membership”, and planned to use the controversy surrounding his personal blogging to undermine Professor Tracy’s representation by Defendants UFF and FEA.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 145. See also Exhibit “AK”.“In furtherance of the conspiracy to interfere with Professor Tracy’s civil rights, and in retaliation for Professor Tracy’s personal blogging, the Defendant University, through Defendant Alperin canceled Professor Tracy’s course, “Media, War and Crisis” and reassigned Professor Tracy to an undergraduate course he had not previously taught, at times of the day that conflicted with his child care schedule.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 146“After initial efforts to discipline Professor Tracy for his personal blogging failed in 2013, Defendants Alperin and Coltman once again, in furtherance of the conspiracy to interfere with Professor Tracy’s civil rights, attempted to unlawfully discipline Professor Tracy for his personal blogging in November and December of 2015.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 147.“Defendant Kelly personally supervised and approved FAU officials and representatives efforts in 2015 to discipline and dismiss Professor Tracy in retaliation for his personal blogging, with acknowledgement and approval of the Chairman of the Defendant University’s Board of Trustees.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 148.“In furtherance of the conspiracy to interfere with Professor Tracy’s civil rights, in November and December of 2015, including December 17, 2015, Defendants Zoeller, individually and on behalf of the Defendants UFF and FEA, met with FAU General Counsel Larry Glick, acting on behalf of the Defendant University and Defendants Kelly, Alperin and Coltman. During these meetings, which occurred in person at FAU’s campus, an understanding and agreement was reached to sabotage Professor Tracy’s defense against FAU’s unlawful discipline, and to secure Professor Tracy’s termination or resignation in lieu of termination.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 149.“Although Defendant Moats and Defendants UFF and FEA previously advised and instructed Professor Tracy not to submit personal blogging to the Defendant University for approval or restriction when faced with identical unlawful directives and threats of discipline for his personal blogging, in 2015, in furtherance of the conspiracy, Defendants Moats and Defendants UFF and FEA about-faced Professor Tracy and aided and abetted Professor Tracy’s unlawful discipline and termination for his personal blogging. Defendant Moats and Defendants UFF and FEA agreed not to file a grievance or respond to the Defendant University’s Notices of Discipline on Professor Tracy’s behalf, while actively deceiving Professor Tracy into believing that a timely response and grievance would be filed by Defendants UFF and FEA.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 150.

“In furtherance of the conspiracy to interfere with Professor Tracy’s civil rights, Defendants Kelly, Alperin, Zoeller and other officials and representatives of the Defendant University and Defendants UFF and FEA, disregarded and dismissed multiple faculty complaints and requests for FAU officials to cease and desist infringing upon constitutionally protected faculty speech and expression.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 151.“In October, November and December of 2015, and in furtherance of the conspiracy to interfere with Professor Tracy’s civil rights, Defendants Kelly, Alperin, Zoeller, Moats and other officials and representatives of the Defendant University and Defendants UFF and FEA ignored Professor Tracy’s complaints that his uncompensated, constitutionally protected personal blogging could not be subjected to restriction by the Defendant University.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 152.“In November 2015, in furtherance of the conspiracy to interfere with Professor Tracy’s civil rights, Defendant Coltman demanded Professor Tracy submit four (4) years of personal blogging to FAU officials for evaluation.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 153.“In response to and in support of Defendant Coltman’s demands, and in furtherance of the conspiracy to interfere with Professor Tracy’s civil rights, Defendants Zoeller and Moats coerced Professor Tracy into submitting four (4) years of constitutionally protected blogging to Defendant Coltman and the Defendant University.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 154.“In furtherance of the conspiracy to interfere with Professor Tracy’s civil rights, in 2015, Defendants Alperin, Coltman, Kelly and other senior administrative officials and representatives of the Defendant University, including FAU General Counsel Glick, acted unconstitutionally and unlawfully in disciplining Professor Tracy in retaliation for his personal blogging.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 155.

“In furtherance of the conspiracy to interfere with Professor Tracy‟s civil rights, Defendants Zoeller, Defendant Moats and officials and/or representatives of Defendants UFF and FEA purposefully failed to file a grievance or contest the Defendant University’s retaliatory discipline of Professor Tracy for his personal blogging.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 156.“In furtherance of the conspiracy to interfere with Professor Tracy’s civil rights, in 2015, Defendants Alperin, Coltman, Kelly and the Defendant University, acted unconstitutionally and unlawfully in issuing FAU’s Notice of Intent to Terminate Professor Tracy in retaliation for his personal blogging.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 157.“In furtherance of the conspiracy to interfere with Professor Tracy’s civil rights, Defendant Zoeller and Defendant Moats, and other representatives of Defendants UFF and FEA purposefully failed to respond or grieve FAU’s Notice of Intent to Terminate, as promised to Professor Tracy, which could have deferred and prevented Professor Tracy’s termination.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 158.“In furtherance of the conspiracy to interfere with Professor Tracy’s civil rights, Defendant Moats and Defendant Zoeller misadvised and attempted to mislead Professor Tracy into believing the unlawful and unconstitutional discipline by FAU was “valid” and lawful.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 159. See also Exhibits “AA” & “AC”.“In December 2015, in furtherance of the conspiracy to interfere with Professor Tracy’s civil rights, Defendants Moats and Defendant Zoeller also repeatedly instructed Professor Tracy not to exercise his constitutional rights, including his freedom of speech and expression.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 160.“In furtherance of the conspiracy, the Union Defendants, including Defendants Moats, Defendant Zoeller, and other representatives of the Defendants UFF and FEA attempted to pressure and coerce Professor Tracy into resigning from his tenured position.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 161.“In furtherance of the conspiracy, the Union Defendants, including Defendants Moats, Defendant Zoeller, and other representatives of the Defendants UFF and FEA attempted to discourage Professor Tracy from taking any legal action against the Defendant University, falsely claiming that any challenge to his termination would be unsuccessful.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 162.“Willful failure to file a timely response or grievance by representatives and agents of Defendants UFF and FEA, including but not limited to DefendantZoeller and Moats resulted in Professor Tracy’s discipline and termination by the Defendant University.” Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 163.

The Court concludes that Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint satisfies federal pleading standards and does not amount to mere “labels and conclusions or a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action.” There is sufficient factual content in the Second Amended Complaint as to who, what, where, when, and why such that Defendants can answer the claim of conspiracy to violate Plaintiff’s constitutional rights. With respect to these arguments, Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss is denied as to Count II.

3. Plaintiff’s Allegation that he was Denied a Constitutional Right (Count II)

Defendants raise the argument in their motion that Plaintiff has failed to allege that he was denied a constitutional right stemming from his allegations of conspiracy because “this Court has already determined that Plaintiff was afforded due process with respect to his termination.” DE 97 at 13. Defendants restate their argument in their reply in arguing that, “[A]s this Court ruled that Plaintiff was not denied his right to procedural due process, and Plaintiff’s only allegations stated with any particularity reflects that [Defendants] alleged conspiracy to deny him of his procedural due rights, Plaintiff cannot state a claim for conspiracy.” DE 104 at 6. Defendants’ premise is therefore that Plaintiff has only properly alleged a conspiracy to deprive him of procedural due process. The Court does not agree. It is true that the Court previously determined that Plaintiff’s claim for denial of procedural due process failed as a matter of law because Plaintiff was never denied procedural due process— he simply did not elect to avail himself of procedural due process. DE 92 at 16. But, that determination did not address whether Plaintiff suffered a constitutional injury that resulted from an alleged conspiracy to inflict such an injury. In fact, the Court even noted in its prior 11 order that “[T]he Court hereby rejects Defendants’ argument that Plaintiff cannot show his exercise of speech was adversely affected by his termination” by citing to Bennett v. Hendrix, 423 F.3d 1247 (11th Cir. 2005), which held that the proper test to determine whether a plaintiff suffers an adverse action, or a constitutional injury, is whether that action (here termination) would likely deter a person of ordinary firmness from the exercise of his First Amendment rights. Id. at 14. The Court finds that Plaintiff has alleged a conspiracy to deprive him of his First Amendment right to free speech, in accordance with federal pleading standards, for all of the reasons set forth above in section 2 and below in section 6. Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss is denied as to Count II as to any argument pertaining to procedural due process.

Defendants argue that Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint fails under the intracorporate conspiracy doctrine. That doctrine holds that a corporation (or a public entity) cannot conspire with itself. Dickerson v. Alachua Cnty., 200 F.3d 761, 767 (11th Cir. 2000); see also Grider v. City of Auburn, 618 F.3d 1240, 1261 (11th Cir. 2010) (applying the doctrine to public entities). That is not Plaintiff’s allegation. Plaintiff’s allegation is that officials at a public entity conspired with union representatives to jointly deprive Plaintiff of his constitutional rights—the alleged conspiracy extends beyond Defendant FAU and encompasses representatives of an independent union3. For that reason, Defendants’ arguments under the intracorporate conspiracy doctrine are rejected, and Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss is denied as to Count II as to this ground.

5. The Relief Sought by Plaintiff as to Defendant FAU’s Policies (Count III and Count IV)

Defendants argue that Count III is duplicative of Count IV. The allegations in Count III are that a certain FAU policy (requiring disclosure of outside activities) is unconstitutional on its face. The allegations in Count IV are that the policy was applied to Plaintiff in an unconstitutional way.4 A plaintiff is permitted to plead causes of action in the alternative. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(d)(2); see also Cleveland v. Policy Mgmt. Sys. Corp., 526 U.S. 795, 805 (1999). Plaintiff’s express intent is to plead Count III and Count IV in the alternative. DE 102 at 16. For this reason, Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss is denied as to Count III and Count IV on these grounds.

Defendants argue that Plaintiff cannot allege that a policy was applied to him in an unconstitutional way because, by his own allegations, Plaintiff did not comply with that policy. Defendants’ argument is targeted against Plaintiff’s as-applied challenge, Count IV. Unlike a facial constitutionality challenge, which is “purely legal [and] presumptively ripe for judicial review,” an as-applied constitutionality challenge addresses whether a law or rule is “unconstitutional on the facts of a particular case or party” and, as a result, “it necessarily requires the development of a factual record for the court to consider.” Harris v. Mexican Speciality Goods, Inc., 564 F. 3d 1301 (11th Cir. 200). Viewing all inferences in the Second Amended Complaint in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, the Court does not conclude, at this stage in the proceedings, that Plaintiff’s failure to exhaust administrative remedies means that Defendants’ policies could not have been applied to him in an unconstitutional way. The gravamen of Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint is that actions were taken against him, in a conspiracy, prior to his opportunity to exercise administrative remedies and that he received deceptive advice pertaining to his right to utilize administrative procedures. In light of the foregoing, a factual record is required to evaluate Count IV and Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss is denied as to that count.4 Plaintiff has clarified that Count IV is intended as an as-applied challenge to FAU’s policy, not as a facial challenge to that policy (which is encompassed in Count III). DE 102 at 16 (“[T]he allegations of Count IV, detail exactly how the Policy was applied by the Defendant University to Plaintiff and his uncompensated personal blogging. See also Sec. Am. Compl. ¶ 211, 213. These allegations, read in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, draw the reasonable inference that the Policy was unconstitutional as-applied to Plaintiff, resulting in injury that can in fact be remedied by the Court.”).

IV. CONCLUSION AND RULING

For all of the foregoing reasons, it is hereby ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint satisfies federal pleading standards and Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss [DE 97] is DENIED. Defendants shall answer Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint within seven (7) days of the date of rendition of this Order.DONE and ORDERED in Chambers, Fort Pierce, Florida, this 21st day of February, 2017._______________________________ ROBIN L. ROSENBERGUNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGECopies furnished to Counsel of Record